Those are beautiful! I had two bushes, one died because it didn't get enough sunlight (a problem here in the forest) and one that is in an area that gets partial shade has a few blooms on it. There are some rural roads in the state that you drive down this time of year and see farmhouses with a whole row of peony bushes planted near the road. I wonder if it was something rural housewives did at one time?

You are making me happy here! My goodness, they are gorgeous. The colours and the blowsy petals just like an old English cabbage rose. Your photos are exquisitely taken. I recently came across this lovely quote about peonies from Vita Sackville-West. Thought you might enjoy it:

“It always seemed to me that the herbaceous peony is the very epitome of June. Larger than any rose, it has something of the cabbage rose’s voluminous quality; and when it finally drops from the vase, it sheds its petticoats with a bump on the table, all in an intact heap, much as a rose will suddenly fall, making us look up from our book or conversation, to notice for one moment the death of what had still appeared to be a living beauty.”